SEATTLE – Ramsey Nijem bloodied Joe Proctor early, then held on for a unanimous decision victory.

Though Nijem seemed to tire in the second round, he was good enough in the first and the third to do enough damage for the win in what was a competitive fight. “Stripper Ramsey” took the win with a 30-27 and two 29-28s from the judges.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC on FOX 5 event at Seattle’s KeyArena. It aired on FX following an additional prelim on Facebook and ahead of the main card on FOX.

Both men swung early, and when Nijem looked for a quick takedown, Proctor wrapped up a guillotine along the fence. Though it wasn’t tight enough to have Nijem in true trouble, it got his attention. When he finally broke free, he was able to land some good strikes and a knee in a brief Thai clinch.

A few seconds later, a jumping front kick from Nijem landed and put Proctor on his back. Nijem moved in and began landing strikes on the ground as Proctor covered up. Nijem kept the fight on the ground with Proctor bloodied up, and he briefly looked to mount. But Proctor was able to get back to standing and again latched on to Nijem’s neck.

That position didn’t last long, though, and Nijem took Proctor’s back. When the two got back to their feet, they swung wildly. And though Nijem landed more, Proctor landed a big one that hurt Nijem. The fight returned to the ground, where Proctor landed some elbows from half-guard as the round closed.

The two continued to slug it out in the second, and though Nijem landed a few more punches the first half of the round, when Proctor landed they seemed to have more sting on them. Halfway through, when the fight went back to the ground, it was Nijem who was on top looking to attack – before Proctor was able to get out and work a front choke with Nijem up along the fence.

In the third, Proctor seemed to tire and Nijem seemed to find a second wind – or at least enough of one to work from the top a good portion of the round, which certainly worked in his favor with the judges. But with a couple minutes left, Proctor found his way to the top, latched on to Nijem’s right arm and looked for first a kimura, then a straight armbar. Although Nijem was in danger, he was able to survive the dangerous spot, stay on top and continued to work shots to the body.

“This was without a doubt the toughest fight I’ve had to date,” Nijem said. “I’m usually able to go in there, take people down at will and dominate them. I’ve never been in a fight where I couldn’t control my opponent on the ground. I’m glad to get the victory, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. Luckily, I’m only 24 – so I still have time to make those adjustments. I want to keep competing against the best and break into the top 10 as soon as possible.”

Nijem (7-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) won for the third straight time since losing in the finals of Season 13 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Proctor (8-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who fought on “The Ultimate Fighter Live” this past spring, had a four-fight streak halted and lost for the first time in the UFC.